Looking in at Iowa

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From KTIV and USA Today blog:

It’s news when a 78-year-old man rolls a perfect 300 game in bowling.

But this time, the 78-year-old Iowan also is legally blind.

Iowa television station KTIV reports that Dale Davis of Alta rolled his perfecto Saturday night. He’s been bowling for more than 60 years, and averages 180. …

Davis is a World War II veteran who lost all vision in his left eye in 1996, to macular degeneration. A year later he began losing most vision in his right eye. The 115-pound Davis told the Storm Lake Times that when he completed the 300 game with his 12th consecutive strike, “A few guys were hugging me and almost broke my skinny bones.” …

From Storm Lake Times

“After I went blind, I just assumed it wouldn’t happen,” he said of the doubts he had. “I always knew I wanted to have a 300, but I never thought it would be possible, especially as I got older and couldn’t see. Bowling rejuvenated me. I’ve got a love for this game I can’t even describe.” …

The video report from KTIV in Sioux City shows Dale Davis bowling.

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5/8 AFTERNOON UPDATE: Associated Press now has an article available. See Blind man from Iowa bowls perfect game posted by Chicago Tribune.

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From Shreveport Times:

RUSTON – Louisiana Tech Athletic Director Derek Dooley announced Wednesday that he has hired Bruce Van De Velde as the Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Director for the university’s athletic department. …

During his time as athletic director at Iowa State, Van De Velde raised more than $25 million for capital projects, including the construction of the Bergstrom Indoor Training Facility and the Hixson Student Success Center and French Academic Center. …

“I am excited about the opportunity to join a great university and an athletic program that has a vision for success,” said Van De Velde. …

February LIAI post about Van De Velde here: Bruce Van De Velde, former AD at ISU, among 5 EIU finalists.

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From UPI:

The U.S. Air Force says it has successfully tested a classified information transmission technology from two F-22 Raptor aircrafts to ground stations.

The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors sent the classified sensor data from the air to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and Langley Air Force Base in Virginia with new tactical targeting network technology [TTNT] under development by Rockwell Collins. …

“This is the first time in history that F-22 sensor data was down-linked to the Combined Air Operations Center using a tactical network.” …

Related news from May 27, 2006 Gazette:

Test verifies Collins’ new defense technology
Wireless network on target in Nevada
By Dave DeWitte
The Gazette

The U.S. Air Force has completed a successful demonstration of the Rockwell Collins tactical targeting network technology as part the recent Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Tactical targeting network technology is a high-bandwidth wireless network developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that transmits information used to target munitions from aircraft.

In the experiment, two fighters, two bombers and two command aircraft equipped with the Collins technology participated in five days of flights. Mobile and fixed-forward ground nodes used the network to extend the reach of Internet protocol-enabled software applications and integrate the tactical targeting network technology subnetwork with a fixed ground network.

The demonstration verified the ability of the Collins network to connect cross-service military units to a common network, according to Bruce King, vice president and general manager of communications systems for Collins. He said the capability will ultimately allow the military to reduce the number of manned missions, while delivering a minimum number of weapons against enemy forces.

Later field testing and deployment of the network will be done through the Collins’ multifunctional information distribution system and its joint tactical radio system program. It will be managed out of the Space and Naval War Systems Command in San Diego.

ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Co.) operates corn processing plants in Cedar Rapids and is considered one of the area’s largest manufacturing employers.

Photos at Yahoo! News from Sunday filming of ‘The Informant‘ in Decatur, Illinois:

Matt Damon talks to director Steven Soderbergh on location for filming of ‘The Informant’ in downtown Decatur, Ill. on Sunday, May 4, 2008. Damon portrays Mark Whitacre, in the true story of an executive-turned-informant at agri-business giant Archer Daniels Midland in Central Illinois. (AP Photo/Herald & Review, Lisa Morrison)

Source of photos is Herald & Review, which has a page dedicated to the newspaper’s ongoing coverage of film-related news. They even have a Matt Damon Sightings Map - but beware of look-alikes.

From Yahoo! News Photos:

Actor Ashton Kutcher and actress Cameron Diaz appear onstage during MTV’s ‘Total Request Live‘ at the MTV Times Square Studios Monday, May 5, 2008 in New York. Kutcher and Diaz star in the new film ‘What Happens In Vegas’ which opens nationwide on Friday.

All kinds of reviews will surely show up at this Movie Review Query Engine page.

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From Shenandoah Valley News Today:

March 27, 1944 played an extraordinarily vital role in the lives of Clark Underwood of Shenandoah and Joe Koenig of Cedar Rapids.

It was the day their B-17 was shot down by a German fighter, crashing into the Bay of Biscay.

It was also the last time the two men saw each other.

When Underwood’s story of survival was published in the Valley News Today on April 2, it reached Koenig. …

See also Media-rich content about World War II from Encyclopædia Britannica.

Four-minute audio segment from NPR

You’ve probably never heard of Shawn Johnson, especially if you live outside of Iowa. But the 16-year-old gymnast from West Des Moines is the reigning World All-Around champion and is considered one of the favorites to win gold at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. …

From today’s Chicago Tribune:

Russell Haught [of Iowa City] was tired. In fact, for the last six years his energy had been deteriorating—so much so that he was barely functional after 3 in the afternoon. It wasn’t long before the 52-year-old was forced to take an early retirement from his job at United Parcel Service. …

The internist thought the best course of action was to run a series of laboratory tests, which revealed that Haught was suffering from hypotestosteronemia, or low testosterone, a condition that affects one of every four men over age 30.

And, like Haught, many men suffering from low testosterone levels are inappropriately diagnosed as suffering from clinical depression. …

Encyclopædia Britannica article on testosterone here.

More about Testosterone Replacement Therapy from Merck.

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Cassill finished 23rd in the Lipton Tea 250 last night at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.

From SceneDaily.com:

The 18-year-old part-time Nationwide Series driver for JR Motorsports has always been patient on the race track, sometimes to his own detriment.

But that’s how Cassill has always raced, even when he started racing karts at age 8 near his Cedar Rapids, Iowa home.

His older brother, Zac, raced karts, too, …

“My dad was my spotter when I was in Late Models, and there were times when he’d get on the radio and say, ‘Do what you’ve got to do.’ If you’ve got to put the bumper on somebody to get by him for the win, that’s part of racing.

“You’ve got to be aggressive at times, but drivers like Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon have mastered that ability to know when to do that.” …

From marketwire via CNN/Money:

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)–Penford Products Company (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), a subsidiary of Penford Corporation is nearing completion of an ethanol plant addition at its corn-milling and industrial-corn-starches plant in Cedar Rapids. Construction on the estimated $42 million plant began in November 2006. The plant is going through the commissioning process and is expected to be fully operational in May.

For details, view the entire article by subscribing to Industrial Info’s Premium Industry News at http://www.industrialinfo.com/showNews.jsp?newsitemID=132274 …